Zaporizhzhya Things to Do

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The island where only cossacks got together for planning, getting drunk. No women were allowed there.

Unfortunately nothing much left there other then a couple of rocks and museum where they organized by time all the archaeological pieces. If you planning on getting a guide and you don't speak Russian or Ukrainian don't even bother. My family got one for us and I had to translate every single word to my husband (if i would cut it short, the guide would give me a dirty look that I missed something out, hahaha)

Afterwards, we went to look at Ukrainian Village decorations that were left after a movie shooting - "Taras Bulba" (coming out in 2008). So even though they are not authentic, it's still a good experience to look at them and get an idea of what the life was like back then.
Tip: if you want to go see the decorations and don't want to break your neck by going down the steep hill, just bribe the security with 20 gryvnyas ($4) and he will let you take a "short cut" (don't do it yourself, there are security guards all over the place with guard dogs)

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I've seen a lot o' Lenins, but this one really was impressive. Large and high upon a brick pedestal, this Lenin towers at the head of his eponymous main street with a moving bunch of mighty proletariat workers below him. The backdrop behind him is the massive and even more impressive Dniproges dam. And I especially like that they've kept that strange Lenin quote on the side of it -- "Communism is power from the people plus electrification for all of Ukraine."

Well I say a little walk, but it's about 10km from top to bottom. I set out early one day from the riverbank near the momument to Lenin, which sadly the surrounding area and monument is in need of some TLC.. I found found the many shops of great interest... I found an antique shop...oh the joy of it...well until I noticed the prices... I past many new restaurants, theme cafes, and an irish bar (sadly lacking an irish person...the phoneys...lol they even pulled my Guiness in under a minute..=aaarrgghhh the rotters). I pasted an open market of paintings and painters..nice stuff for sale... The street goes on and on.. with many sights and open areas to explore... Take a walk.. you'll find more to this city than whats in a guide book...

The oak is 36 metres tall and twenty metres in the girth. The mighty tree must have seen breathtakingly much in its life time of seven centuries! I was dismayed to discover that it seemed to be dead. Its branches were supported by ropes, and it gave the tree an appearance of a ship sailing through history. My eyes travelled from branch to branch and then — what a joy! — I did see green ornate leaves on one of the branches. There were even small acorns hiding among the leaves! The tree was not dead after all — it went on living, a living link with the past.

For many years the oak was looked after by an old man named Dykun, who could tell stories and legends about the tree for hours on end. He had no immediate successor and after his death several years ago, the tree began to die. In the middle of a summer it shed its leaves and then it stood bare for several years. Its bark began to fall off, the branches began to lean to the ground under their own enormous weight. And then a miracle happened — one of the branches came back to life. The sap ran through its veins bringing new life. It was considered a prophetic sign of something significantly good.

The museum on the island of Khortitsa has a interesting display, but falls quite short of an imformed display for the great importance of the site and history that is Ukraine, but the guides, historians and archaeologists tell us that the territory of Zaporozhye had been inhabited by people from time immemorial. This is shown for example by stone tools of the Late Paleolithic Age (about 15 thousand years ago), two settlements of the Heolithic Age, Late Bronze Age, Scythians, and the Samatians lived here, while in the 9th-13th centuries the area was populated by Slavs, which is shown by the remains of 57 Slavonic settlements. However, according to the historians, most of the Slav dwellers left this area in the 13th century, running away from the Golden Horde invasion, and by the end of the 15th century and the beginning ofthe 16th century, Zaporozhye Cossacks became masters of the lands beyond the rapids of the Dnieper River

The impregnable Khortitsa Island became one of the centers of Cossack civilization, and became a mighty force for the Ukrainian people in the struggle against foreign invaders and the feudal yoke and for the reunion of the Ukraine with Russia. But the town itself was founded much later, during a period of united straddle of the fraternal peoples against the Turkish Sultanate. The guided tour is in Ukrainian or Russian. They have a small section on the Second World War, but again this falls short of a museum standard package. It's very good, but I love my history and culture... I wanted more information and displays.

On Khortytsaya island in the Dnipr river, the Cossacks built a fortress in 1554. The island was strategically located as it was very hard to get to the island, mainly due to the fact that there were many rapids in the river. Therefore the Cossacks were able to built a society free from Russian and Polish influence,

Today the island is home to the Historical Museum of Zaporizky Cossacks. The museum contains many cossack artefacts found on the island. To make a more dramatic presentation, these artefacts are displayed with painted dioramas.
You better not step in it to make a picture, it will set off an alarm (as my girlfriend discovered).

The museum is located on the high, rocky point of the island.

Visit the Zaporizhzhya museum of local lore.
The museum is situated in the centre of an old city. It is dedicated to the nature and history of the ancient Zaporizhzhya. The introduced exhibition and dioramas of the nature, ethnography, archaeology, Civil and Great wars are the most interesting.

Don't miss visiting the Regional Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater.
Ukrainian classical and modern plays and performances.